“The problem is solved military man”, repeated a mayor of the recent past, referring to the complex and dangerous public order situation in the Gallarate station area. Was he exaggerating? Maybe he was exaggerating, but what is the solution to stem a phenomenon of social hardship which, as happened on Tuesday evening with the big brawl and, as with drug dealing and repeated vandalism, leads to delinquency? Yes, which one is it? TO Gallarate, Busto Arsizio, Varese and in all the cities where groups of foreigners and, next to them, crowds of wild kids, day and night, set entire neighborhoods on fire.
“Baby gang” they call the pestiferous teenagers who, gathered in gangs, have no respect for anything or anyone, starting with themselves. Repress, of course. But perhaps the problem lies further upstream. It calls into question immigration policies, a phenomenon that no government has yet resolved, perhaps because it is unsolvable, at most only compressible. In the same way as spread of organized petty crime, widespread almost everywhere, which sees the youngest protagonists. Are families involved? Yes, they have something to do with it, but the discussion addressed here would take us far, to the education that is lacking, to the school that lets go, to the institutional principals who are busy with other matters, to everything that makes up the social context of disvalues that, starting from social media, it devastates civil coexistence.
At the prefecture in Varese we meet to discuss how to stem the summer nightlife, when the streets of the urban centers are stormed by many respectable people looking for legitimate entertainment, to which Security must be guaranteed against the degenerations of groups of thugs ready for anything. Security, that’s the key word. Which is for the most part, real or perceived security, but constantly at the center of collective attention. The point is to understand whether cameras and police patrols, checks as if there were no tomorrow and prevention services are sufficient to guarantee it, which can finally avert events like those of Tuesday evening in Gallarate. Sorry, but we are pessimistic.
The small number of police, carabinieri and traffic police personnel, the very limits of the regulations (handcuffs almost immediately correspond to the granting of freedom to those caught in the act), the lack of funds even by the Municipalities to organize effective countermoves does not bode well for a summer of tranquility. But this is not yet the issue; we repeat ourselves: it’s a question of education, of respect for others and for public and private heritage; it is a cultural problem that affects young people and families: real life is exchanged with the messages of social media and certain television programs that create false myths, so that real life becomes the one told on the internet or on TV.
Not to mention foreigners, who grew up in other contexts and arrived here without social opportunities that favor integration. People abandoned to themselvesconfined in the ghettos of many reception centers or even forgotten in disused and dilapidated structures. The only way to survive is to commit crime. So prefectural summits to discuss public order are good. Provided that real interventions arise, if not decisive in some way effective, which must not be reduced only to mere repression. If it were ever possible.
